Women generally desire to have long and beautiful finger nails coupled with soft skin on the hands and feet. Often in fulfilling this desire, they will apply false nails, typically made of acrylic, to their natural nails and apply moisturizers to their skin. Application of false nails damages the finger nails. To avoid this damage and still have long nails, one must grow the nail naturally and refrain from using false nails. Likewise, moisturizers must be applied regularly to realize soft skin. These processes are time-consuming and may be difficult to achieve because time constraints as physical limitations such as weak and slow growing nails.
The cuticle, an outer layer of skin found at the base of nail, may also be easily damaged upon exposure to adverse environmental conditions such as the application of artificial nails; various cleaning compounds; and/or dry temperature environments. Once the cuticle has been damaged, pain, bleeding and infection may set-in. Therefore, it is desirable to keep the skin lubricated to avoid damage and/or to repair the damaged tissue.
Past remedies for the repair of nail and cuticle damage have included cuticle creams, gelatin capsules, lotions, and using various gloves or booties containing cream preparations. The problem with applying creams, capsules and lotions to the skin is that the preparation is applied only topically. However, for full healing and protection, deep penetration is necessary. Some have tried to solve this problem by designing gloves and booties that are capable to dispensing preparations to the hands and feet.
For example, Charos in U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,182 designed a packaged cream applicator that is a glove having a soft, absorbent inner side and a substantially impermeable outer side. The inner side or the lining is impregnated with a medical preparation such as a cosmetic cream. The device is sold to the consumer ready for use. The user dampens or moistens her hands and inserts them into the gloves and simply wears the impregnated gloves. By manipulating the hands and the fingers during ordinary activities, the packaged cream is mixed with the moisture in the skin and is dispensed evenly on the skin. The problem with this glove is that there is uneven distribution of the cream to the skin. Further, it does not include any concentration to a particular area of the hand or foot. Moreover, the impermeable outer layer restricts breathing by the skin and causes the hand or foot to sweat which may inhibit the skins ability to absorb the cosmetic cream.
Stager in U.S. Pat. No. 4,122,554; U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,330; and Canadian Patent No. 1,092,060 disclose a disposable cosmetic glove which is characterized by superposed first and second layers of lotion impervious material and an inner glove lining formed by superposed first and second lotion absorbent layers. The absorbent layers are uniformly impregnated with a cosmetic lotion. Alternatively, the user could apply the lotion to his or her hands first and then put the gloves on to saturate the inner lining prior to use. The shell and lining layers are sealed together along the marginal edge of the glove and a small amount of thermosetting adhesive is deposited at a number of selected locations around the marginal edge of the glove to anchor the liner as the glove is worn. The glove, although disposable, is layered such that the outer shell layer is a thermoplastic film of 1-2 mils thickness. The use of this film does not permit the glove to breathe and causes the hand to sweat. Thus, Stager suffers from similar problems mentioned above with respect to Charos. Additionally, another drawback to Stager is that the layered configuration is prone to de-lamination and may come apart while in use.
Schneiderman in U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,065 provides dispenser gloves and stockinets which may or may not contain the treating agent. In Schneiderman, the glove is prepared from vinyl-latex and has a hollow lumen into which a treating agent is placed prior to packaging. This design causes the hands to sweat. Therefore, Schneiderman suffers from the same problems as the previously mentioned patents.
DeFina, U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,202 discloses a moisturizing glove comprised of three layers. An exterior layer of non-porous material is formed on the top side of the middle layer. The middle layer is saturated with a lotion. An inner layer includes a plurality of pores formed on the bottom side of the middle layer. The inner layer creates a cavity for receiving and enveloping a human extremity such as a hand. Since the exterior layer of the DeFina glove is nonporous, it suffers from the same deficiencies mentioned above.
It is an object of the invention to provide a delivery system that can be readily used to apply a lubricating, moisturizing or medicinal agent to the epidermis of an individual.
It is another object of the invention to provide a delivery system that limits the lubricating, moisturizing or medicinal agent to a localized portion of the delivery system.
It is another object of the invention to provide a delivery system that will impart a cosmetic or medicinal agent to a skin surface for an extended period of time.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a single-layer disposable manicure/pedicure glove.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a manicure/pedicure glove that is breathable.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a manicure/pedicure glove that is pre-lubricated but does not leak.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a manicure/pedicure glove that contains a wax-based treatment that enhances the growth of finger and toe nails and/or heals and strengthens nails, cuticles, and softens rough skin.